1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an icon password setting technology, and more particularly, to an icon password setting apparatus that provides an associated phrase using a keyword of an icon and recommends possible icon combinations for a password to allow a password made up of icons to be easily memorized and an icon password setting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user password may be made up of numbers, characters, or their combinations. A number password is created by receiving a setting of a password corresponding to an arbitrary digit from a user using key buttons including numbers (for example: 0˜9) and special characters (for example: *, #, etc.). A character password is created by receiving a setting a password having an arbitrary digit from a user using key buttons including characters (for example: English alphabet, Korean alphabet). Also, a combination password is a password created by combining numbers and characters.
One of the most important considerations in a user password is security. A user password should be known to a user only, and its security should be maintained without leakage to other users. However, passwords made up of numbers, characters, or their combinations have poor security due to a limited number of key buttons. For example, the numbers are limited to a total of nine from 0 to 9 and the English alphabet is limited to a total of sixteen letters from A to Z. Also, a combination password is limited to a sum of numbers and English alphabets, i.e., about forty. Here, about forty key buttons are used in a daily life and commonly identifiable, and consequently, they are known to everyone. The combination password has advantage of being very familiar and not causing confusion, but has a disadvantage of poor security. For most of the passwords, an input display provides about forty or less key buttons that are standardized and identifiable. For example, some of the forty key buttons known to everyone are arranged and displayed on a door of a user, an Internet login page of the user, a mobile communication terminal unlocking page of the user, and the like. Also, if a third party peeps a password input process of the user, it is not difficult for the third party to identify characters selected by the user in a state that the third party already knows the about forty key button arrangement.
Meanwhile, an icon password is created using an image of an icon displayed on a key button. The icon password is not limited to roughly forty like the combination password, and a number of its images is infinite. For example, assume that a password is created using four icon images selected in a sequential order among twenty icon images. In the case of a combination password, twenty selected among forty key buttons are determined as an icon image, but in the case of an icon password, twenty among an infinite number of images may be selected and determined as an icon image. Thus, an icon password may be displayed as different images on a door of a user, an Internet login page of the user, a mobile communication terminal unlocking page of the user, and the like, thereby providing enhanced security. However, an icon image is not familiar, and in the presence of an infinite number of images, even a user may forget an icon password of the user even though the user directly set the password.